


Yesterdays

by dinolaur



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Peter Hale used to be the best uncle, but then everything changed when the fire nation attacked
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-10
Updated: 2012-11-10
Packaged: 2017-11-18 08:31:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinolaur/pseuds/dinolaur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Uncle Peter wasn't always a bad guy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yesterdays

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, I have a lot of feelings about Peter before the fire. A lot of them. I bet you he was the absolute best uncle.

Today is Derek’s first Little League game. He’s five years old, and his hat is a little too big for him. But his glove is really well worn—it used to be his dad’s—and Uncle Peter has been helping him learn to catch better with it. Not that Derek normally needs help catching a ball, but the mitt is clunky and strange.

He’s really excited about the game. Laura says he’ll get a free snow-cone at the end because all the players get one, which is so cool. At his cousin’s games last year, he had to borrow a dollar from his mom to get one.

He’s excited, but he’s also really nervous. He doesn’t think he’ll be bad at baseball, because he’s a werewolf, which means he’s already stronger and faster, even if he’s not as big as all the other kids on the team. But what if he is bad at baseball? It would be bad enough being the kid who can’t play, but being the kid who can’t play and is also a werewolf? It doesn’t matter that none of the other kids know. His sister and his cousins and his parents would know, and that would be the worst thing that could ever happen.

He’s hopping in his seat at the kitchen table, too worked up to even think about eating his breakfast. Uncle Peter is sitting across from him, watching him around a cup of coffee. “Hey, squirt,” he says suddenly, “did I ever tell you about the weekend that your dad and me went camping during the World Series?”

“Oh, God, Peter,” Mom chuckles, chopping up fruit to bring with them to the stands.

“It was just a few years before you were born,” Uncle Peter says, then he pauses. “Laura, I’m not sure if you were born yet. Well, that’s not important, but so your dad and I decided to have a weekend to ourselves—oh, Laura, you weren’t born. I remember because your mom was ready to bite everyone’s head off for daring to not be pregnant along with her.”

Laura and Derek giggle as Mom rolls her eyes.

Uncle Peter goes on to tell them all about how they decided to go camping, along with some of their buddies, but they didn’t sleep out in a tent. There was a cabin that they rented up in Montana, a dingy little thing apparently, with only one room. The night of the last game of the World Series, which by some miracle, they were able to pick up on an old radio that Uncle Peter swears was the first one ever made it was so old, Dad was cooking.

Laura and Derek both turn along with Uncle Peter to look at Dad, who shoots them a very unimpressed stare. It’s not necessarily that Dad is a bad cook. It’s just that Mom is so much better that it makes Dad’s food look like mud in comparison.

“So your dad decides he’s just going to make this big pot of pork and beans,” Uncle Peter says. “That’s all. Just pork and beans. No burgers. No hot dogs. Nothing. Just pork and beans. So obviously, we just lay into him. I mean, we are berating him for hours while he’s cooking this stuff. And he’s furious, which is only egging us on more. Finally, he just grabs the pot right off the stove, goes over to the sink, and dumps it all down there and says, ‘Fine! Now no one can have anything!’”

Laura and Derek are practically screaming they’re laughing so hard. Laura is slapping the tabletop, and Derek has pulled his hat down over his eyes. Uncle Peter turns a very self-satisfied grin in Dad’s direction.

It takes Laura a couple of minutes to calm down enough to say, “It sounds kind of like you screwed yourself there, Uncle Peter.”

Uncle Peter stops for a moment and considers this. He shrugs and says, “It was worth it for the memory.”

Laura and Derek squeal again. “You just hold onto that memory when I send you down to Sacramento next week, you little shit,” Dad says, and Mom snaps, “The kids!”

Uncle Peter winks at Derek and then puts on a show of pouting. Dad rolls his eyes and reaches out to ruffle his little brother’s hair. A moment later, Mom claps at everyone to get up and get into the car of they’re going to be late. Derek grabs his glove and tears from the kitchen. He doesn’t see the fond smile Uncle Peter shoots after him, and he completely forgets that he was ever even nervous until the ride home from the game after he tells Uncle Peter that next week he’s going to get grape flavor.

``

Uncle Peter has always been Derek’s favorite uncle.  He’s the fun uncle. He’s the one who lets Derek stay up late and plays video games with him. He’s the one who tells him that girls just don’t get it when Laura and their older cousins scoff at Derek wanting to watch _Star Wars_ for the fourth weekend in a row. Uncle Peter watches with him. He knows all the words, and he pops two bags of popcorn and pours them into one big bowl.

Dad is very strict when it comes to training, and Mom is encouraging, but Uncle Peter knows how to make it all into a game. Uncle Peter has a way of making everything make sense to Derek. He’s very smart and good with words. Mom says he could be a politician, and Dad laughs and says that it’s perfect for such a little shit. Mom really wishes Dad would stop calling Uncle Peter that in front of Derek.

Uncle Peter is the one to teach Derek about how humans have to do things, how they heal slower, how they can’t track naturally like wolves can. Derek thinks that makes them weak, but Uncle Peter says they shouldn’t be underestimated. Derek doesn’t get it, but Uncle Peter just smiles and says to give it time.

 ``

Uncle Peter has a bit of a wicked streak in him. As long as it isn’t turned against you, it’s pretty funny. Derek’s lucky. He’s Uncle Peter’s favorite, so he almost never gets pranks pulled on him. In fact, Uncle Peter usually lets Derek help.

Derek decides he really can’t be blamed for the whole thing. After all, he’s ten, and Laura left the diary right there in the open where anyone could see it. Of course he read it. And how is it his fault that she is so concerned about boys—gross, by the way—and that she’s too embarrassed to handle someone saying something about it?

He’s only ten, so he doesn’t expect her revenge coming at him in the form of her offering to do his Halloween face paint and making him look like a clown princess. She gets picture evidence and shows it to everybody. He wants to react immediately, maybe rip the heads off of all her dolls or something, but Uncle Peter stops him. He’s got a better idea.

Laura has this weird fear of red-headed people. It makes no sense, and no one can figure out where it came from. But they creep her out, and Uncle Peter has an idea to help Derek get back at Laura.

The entire house wakes up the next morning to a shrill scream of terror. Derek bolts out of his room and lands heavily on Uncle Peter’s bed after a running leap. Uncle Peter is laughing, arms going around his nephew. They both try to shush each other, but they’re just feeding off each other’s giggles.

With the way that they’re carrying on, it takes Laura no time to pin the offense on them. She storms into Uncle Peter’s room screaming. Uncle Peter just laughs and pushes Derek behind him to keep him out of reach of Laura’s claws.

“Oh, really, Peter,” Mom chastises as she walks by, arms overloaded with posters.

“You little shit,” Dad adds, a ginger headed doll under one arm and a life-sized cardboard cutout of Carrot Top under the other.

Mom and Dad scold Derek over breakfast later, Laura standing beside them looking smug. “Oh, lay off the kid,” Uncle Peter says, pouring a cup of coffee. “It was my idea. You saw what Laura did to his face.”

“He read my diary,” Laura defends herself.

“It was right there, and you didn’t even bother trying to lock it,” Derek counters.

“That’s enough, both of you,” Mom says. “This stops now. I can’t handle screams in the morning before I’ve had a chance to brush my teeth. This isn’t Christmas. And you stop encouraging them,” she adds to Uncle Peter, who schools his face to look completely innocent.

“Who, me,” he asks, and Dad, with a grin, manhandles Uncle Peter into a headlock and drags him outside. “Wait. No. My coffee,” Uncle Peter laments.

``

Uncle Peter doesn’t have a mate or pups of his own. When Laura asks why, he just smiles and says he hasn’t found the right person yet, but when he does, he’s planning on having litters and litters that he’s going to spoil rotten.

Derek thinks Uncle Peter would be a great dad, because he’s an awesome uncle. Uncle Peter goes to all of Derek’s baseball games and Laura’s gymnastics competitions, and he cheers louder than anyone else. He gives the best birthday presents, too.

Laura’s been watching a lot of romantic comedies lately, and she thinks the idea that Uncle Peter has no one is tragic. Derek isn’t sure how he gets roped into helping her go on a hunt for someone to be Uncle Peter’s mate, and he really wishes Laura would just let him read these comics instead of making him actively join in her spying on people in the bookstore and evaluating them based on first impressions.

Derek really doesn’t think Uncle Peter needs any help, least of all theirs. He does go on lots of dates, just never too many with the same person. He’ll settle down when he wants to.

Laura’s stalking through the mythology section when she almost squeals. “What about her,” she asks, pointing a little too obviously, and Jesus, really? Derek is never going out in public with her again. “Uncle Peter likes her.”

Derek peeks around the bookshelf to see a lady trailing her fingers over the spines of the books at eyelevel. He’s seen her before a few times. She’s in Uncle Peter’s book club at the library or something.

“She’s married,” Derek says. “And she’s got a kid.” A kid who is standing right there with his arms wrapped around her leg.

Laura’s face falls, and she mutters, “Dammit.” But she perks up again quickly and drags Derek off to the next section.

The problem with Laura is that she’s not very stealth, especially not when she’s really excited about something. So her whole plan comes spilling out in the really obvious way she starts trying to sell a coffee shop barista to Uncle Peter over the full moon bonfire.

Uncle Peter looks half amused and half irritated. Mom is trying to hide a smile behind her hand, but Dad is out right howling with laughter. “Prospects looking that grim, Pete,” he asks. “Got to have a thirteen year old set you up?” On Dad’s other side, Aunt Natalie snorts.

“Oh, you stop that,” Nanny scolds, reaching out to ruffle Uncle Peter’s hair. “He’s a very handsome boy, and I’m sure he’ll do just fine.”

“Ma, for Christ’s sake, I’m almost twenty-five,” Uncle Peter cries, ducking out from under her hold. Dad and Aunt Natalie snicker at their little brother. Uncle Peter huffs. “We could always talk about your disastrous high school dating lives,” he offers.

“You swore,” Dad cries, and Derek, Laura, and their cousins giggle. Mom rolls her eyes.

“Silence the betrayer,” Aunt Natalie bellows, and she and Dad leap around the fire to tackle Uncle Peter. The three siblings fall back into the woods amidst playful growls and snarls.

``

Just because Laura isn’t sneaky doesn’t mean she doesn’t continue on with her plans. For every month that Uncle Peter doesn’t find his One True Love, she takes it as a personal affront. Which means she’s basically seething by the time she’s got a driver’s license and Uncle Peter still isn’t mated.

There’s a freshman orientation at school, and Mom and Dad have some emergency territory disputes to attend, so Uncle Peter takes Derek. Laura not so subtly tags along. She makes them late going into Derek’s advisement appointment by stopping her French teacher. Derek just stares at Laura incredulously. She is just so not stealth.

Obviously Uncle Peter knows what she’s up to. He’s polite and charming to the young woman, but he gets them away with a comment about getting Derek’s schedule finalized. When the teacher has disappeared, Uncle Peter cuffs Laura. She whines, and he waves her off to go find some friends while they’re in the advisor’s office. Derek sticks his tongue out at his sister, and Uncle Peter headlocks him and drags him off.

“You kids,” he complains, but there’s fondness there.

“Wasn’t my idea,” Derek defends himself. Not that he’s looking to set his uncle up with anybody, but he figures he could at least be marginally more subtle about it than Laura.

About an hour later, they’re walking towards the front of the school. Derek’s got most of his books in one hand and his schedule in the other. Uncle Peter is holding a few books just for show. Laura is outside with a group of friends. Madison, her human best friend, waves at Derek and coos about how big he’s getting, finally in high school. Derek scoffs. She’s barely two years older than him, and he’s been taller than her since he was in sixth grade.

Uncle Peter smiles pleasantly at Laura’s friends and elects to save his nephew from their teasing by saying it’s time to go. “You coming or staying,” he asks Laura.

She glances up at some tall blond boy she’s been talking to, and Derek does not miss the faint blush across her cheeks. “I’ll get a ride,” she says.

Derek also does not miss the shift in Uncle Peter’s smile. “All right,” he says, looping his free arm around Derek’s shoulders. “Just remember curfew.”

Uncle Peter’s wicked streak rears its head again in the form of butting completely into Laura’s business about this boy—Marshall, by name. He brings it up casually at first over dinner, and that gets Dad interested. And the thing about Dad and Uncle Peter, they bicker and tease a lot, but they’re brothers, and when they go in on something together, they go all in.

Laura wails to Mom that Dad and Uncle Peter are ruining her life, and she’s going to die miserable and alone and she’ll never even get kissed at this rate.

Dad looks very pleased with that notion, as does Uncle Peter until Nanny drags him off by the scruff of his neck and scolds, “Back off. She’s not your daughter. It has nothing to do with you, so you just leave well enough alone.”

“What,” Uncle Peter complains. “What’s wrong with me sticking my nose in someone else’s business?”

``

Derek is turning sixteen this year, which means by werewolf standards, he’ll be an adult. His cousin Josh is also turning sixteen, which means that they’ll be in competition for status this year during Wolf Moon. Neither of them has any chance of becoming Alpha. That spot belongs to Laura as the eldest child of the current Alpha. But the boys can compete for who will be the superior Beta.

Derek isn’t worried about it. He’s the Alpha’s son. Of course he’s going to do better than Josh. But then Laura makes the comment that Dad and Uncle Peter made a bet about it. Dad’s money is on Derek, of course, but Uncle Peter thinks Josh has it.

And what? No. Uncle Peter is siding with _Josh?_ No freaking way.

Derek demands that Laura tell him everything she heard, why Uncle Peter thinks freaking Josh will do better than him. She lists off what stats she remembers them going over, and Derek panics. He’s immediately at the computer, digging through Goggle to find out what the best exercise regimes are for bulking up and building stamina.

Swimming, he decides.

``

Derek fishes his lunch out of the refrigerator, a half of a bagel stuffed in his mouth. Laura’s already out in the car, yapping away on her phone. Derek almost loses his grip on his thermos as Uncle Peter appears out of nowhere, and Derek does some fancy footwork to avoid crashing into him. Uncle Peter chuckles and goes for the coffee pot.

“You’ve been heading out earlier and earlier lately,” Uncle Peter says. “Laura’s going to claw your eyes out if you keep messing with her beauty sleep.”

“Just want to get in some laps before school,” Derek mutters.

“Mmhmm,” Uncle Peter hums over the grinding of the machine. “And it’s nothing, I’m sure, to do with the girl you’ve been seeing?”

Derek freezes, wondering if he needs to extract some kind of revenge on Laura.

“Relax, kiddo,” Uncle Peter says. “Nobody ratted you out, and no one’s spying on you. But you do realize we can all smell it on you, right?”

Derek blushes. Because, yeah, he knows, but being called out on it is something else.

“Your mom’s about to lose her mind,” Uncle Peter warns. “You might want to bring her around for dinner after Wolf Moon.”

“I’ll ask,” Derek says, still blushing. Uncle Peter chuckles and pats his shoulder.

“She pretty,” he asks.

“Beautiful.”

“That’s my boy,” Uncle Peter says. “Now get out of here. And use condoms.”

“Oh my God,” Derek cries, running from the house as fast as he can.

``

They’re told the news about the fire in second period. Derek finds a ring in the smoldering ashes. Laura and he are completely alone. One of the deputies says they were lucky to have been at school so early, but he winces as he says it, and it’s obvious that he doesn’t think they’re lucky at all. Because they’re all that’s left. Even Uncle Peter, who technically survived, he’s gone beyond recognition. The doctors don’t hide that they have little hope for much of a recovery.

They’re alone except for each other, and Laura just holds Derek close as her eyes burn red, and they howl their grief up to the moon.


End file.
